Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-03-05
SCRABBLING AT THE GATE.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Describes the Spirit
ually Demented.
From the Text of David's.. Afeotation Of
Insanity.
A Strong Appeal to Embrace Christ Now.
sDEMENTIA DRAMATIzED.

pFoPftdbt PdoSdScS ct ffpbuic 'ho
Rev. r. Dewitt TaImagc, ID. d., took
for his text:
f"And he changed HE behavior before
them and feigned himself mad In their hands,
and scrabbled on the doors Of the gate, and
let his spittle fall down upon his beard
/ Sam. XXI, 49,
He sald:
There is one scene in the life of
David that you may not have pom
dered. You have seen him with a
harp, playing the devil out of Saul;
with a sling, smashing the skull Of
Goliath; with a sword, hacking to
pieces the Philistines; with a sceptre,
ruling a vast realm; with a psalm,
gathering all nations into doxology;
but in my text, you have David playing
the fool. He has been Amounted King,
yet he is in exile and passing incogni-
TO among the Gathites. They begin to
suspect who he is, and say; II wonder
If this is not the warrior, King Davidp
II looks like him. Is not this the man
about whom they used to make poetry,
and about whom they composed a
dance, SO that the maidens of
the city, reeling now on n
foot and now on the other, used to
sing: Saul has slain his thousands, but
David has slain his tens of tbousandsP'
Yes, it is very much like David. 1t
must be David. 1t is David" David,
to escape their hands, pretends to be
demeated. He said within himself:
'If / act crafty then of course these
people win not injure me. No one
would be so much of II coward as to
assault a mailman" So, one day,
while these Gathites are watching
David with increased suspicion, they
see him standing by the door running
his hands meaninglessly up and down
the panels-scrabbling on the door as
though he would climb up, his mouth
wide open and drooling like an infant.
I suppose the boys in the town threw
missiles nj him; but the sober people of
the town said: This is not fair. Do you
not see hat he has lost his reason? Do
not touch this mailman. Hands off!
hands off," So David escaped; but
what an exhibition he made of him
self before all the ages! There was a
majesty m
KING LIARS
madness after Regain and Goneril, his
had persuaded him to BAN
their sister Cordelia, and all the
of the drama have been thrilled
with that spectacular. The craziness
of Meg Merrilies was weird and impos-
and the most telling passage in
SCOTS Guy Mannering."
fhers was a fascination about the in
of Alexander Cruden, who made
the best concordance of the Bible that
the world ever saw-made it between
the ~madhouses. Some time ago, while
| was visiting the insane asylum on
island, a demented woman
came to me and said, in most tragic
''God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders TO perform;
He plants his footsteps In the sea
And rides upon the Storm
But there was nothing grand, moth
ing weird, nothing majestic, nothing
sublime about this stimulation on
the part of David. Instead of trusting
in the Lord, as he had on other occa-
he gathers before him a vast
audience of all generations that were
% come, and standing on that consplc-
stage of history, in the presence
all the ages, he impersonates the
.lavering idiot! And he changed his
before them, and feigned him
,elf mad in their hands, and ~scrabbled
the door Of the gate, and let his spit
lie fall upon his beard
Taking the behavior of David rs n
l wish to tell you how
many of the wise, and the brave, and
.he regal sometimes play the fool.
And in the first place. / remark, that
men rs badly play the fool as
bhi5 man of the text, who in any
CRISIS OF LIFE
thoir case out of the hand of God.
in this case, acted as though
there were no God to lift him out of
5hc p~redicament. What n contrast be-
his behavior. when this brave
man stood up.in front of the giant
len feet in height. and looking into his
face, said: Thou CONTEST to me with
a sword, and with a spear, and with n
but / come to thee in the name
of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the
- Iu~,nI ,uLo,o 49,, kaut 10